The GLORIO Spring 2017 Anime Guide – Part 2

Part 2 of our season guide is headlined by the return of another GLORIO favorite, Rage of Bahamut. Unfortunately the rest of this block is looking a bit bland, and I’m predicting the super meta Re:Creators is going to be a big hit for better or worse. But hey, half the fun of a new anime season is finding a show that proves us wrong. Let us know what you plan on checking out.

The Very Lovely Tyrant of Love

It’s like Death Note, but instead of shinigamis and death, it’s cupids and love! Well actually, it seems if your name is written in the “Kiss Note” and you don’t kiss someone, you do die so… maybe it is just Death Note. To be more specific, our hero is accidentally written into this book by a cupid (who is also a devil for some reason???) and he attempts to kiss his crush, but his crush turns out to be crazy. Also, the cupid/angel/demon girl falls in love with him to make matters more complicated. To be honest, I think that’s a great set up for some really twisted, black humor but I am not encouraged by that trailer. I hate the character designs, everyone seems super loud and annoying, and there’s way too much boob bounce. Still, if it’s funny enough it might be worth putting up with all that.

Clockwork Planet

In a world that has been stripped of it’s natural resources to the point where it’s practically a machine, our hero just happens to be very good with machines. One day a box falls from the sky and it has a girl in it, who is also a machine. I guess they uh…. well actually I don’t know what they do, that’s about all the info I could find. The trailer doesn’t help much either as only a few seconds of it are animated, which is probably not a good sign. About the only other thing is the design of the main robot girl makes me think this is some kind of off-brand Nier:Automata, but that might be setting the bar too high. I don’t want to be too unfair since there’s not a lot to go on at the moment, so I’ll reserve final judgement after I see it.

Apparently the title of this series a well known expression that is a roundabout way of saying “I love you” to someone. So yeah, this is a love story. It does not appear there are any twists, no supernatural or sci-fi phenomena or any of the usual anime trappings. I’ll admit that could be a bit boring but I also find it a bit refreshing. Watching the trailer, it still looks like an anime but there’s a much more realistic vibe going on. Maybe we can get a story with characters that interact like real people with real concerns? I’d be down for that. I’m further encouraged that this is an anime original project, so there will be none of the manga filler or unfinished material that often drags out romance stories longer than necessary. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one.

KADO: The Right Answer

A passenger plane is abducted by a mysterious alien cube. On the plane is a government official who is chosen to act as the mediator between the aliens and Japan. Also everything is CG. Ugh. I’m certainly not the guy that says all CG is bad, but until they can make it so it doesn’t look like a video game cut scene, I have a hard time taking it seriously. You lose a lot without those hand crafted nuances in the characters movement and facial expressions. That might be OK for something that isn’t really meant to be taken seriously like Bubuki Buranki, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with this show. Visuals aside, the premise of the series is actually kind of interesting so maybe that will be enough to carry the show. Seems like it might be worth at least an episode.

Kabukibu!

DEEEEEN follows up their modern masterpiece Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju with another series about reviving a traditional Japanese art form. Unfortunately though, this is very different. Kabukibu! is basically another school comedy in which our protagonist wants to make a club out of some obscure activity and now must reign in a band of clubless misfits to meet school requirements. Based on the trailer I’d expect lots of cute boys doing cute things, and that’s fine. It only takes a few good jokes and maybe a dash of weird for something like this to be entertaining, so maybe they can pull it off.

Hinako Note

A girl in a rural town transfers schools to Tokyo and joins the theater club so she can get rid of her accent. She ends up living at an old bookstore with some weirdos. Sure, why not. I guess the “plot” is not super important as Hinako Note seems to be this season’s prime “cute girls doing cute things” show. While I’m kind of cringing at the art style, I have to admit the trailer looks fun and inoffensive. If that’s all this show turns out to be then it will already be ahead of a lot of the competition.

Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul

Three years ago, Rage of Bahamut: Genesis stunned us by not only being a good anime based on a mobile game, it’s one of the best fantasy series in recent memory. The overall plot (bad guys trying to revive a world threatening dragon) is nothing special, but the lovable cast, cinematic production values, and grand sense of fun and adventure really made it stand out. Needless to say, we are excited about the sequel. Virgin Soul takes place 10 years after Genesis and focuses on a new bounty hunter named Nina, although it appears all of the old cast is set to return in some capacity. I’m a bit concerned that this season seems to have a new writer and switching the focus from lovable rogue FAVAROOOOO to a more anime-esque young girl presents some potential pitfalls. The first series was so good though that I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Re:CREATORS

First I need to get his off my chest: can we stop using “Re:” in anime titles? There’s been too many lately and I can’t keep track. That out of the way, this looks like something straight out of a light novel despite being an original project. Details are scarce, but it appears several characters from in-universe anime, manga, and games have been created in the real world and are fighting for some reason. Given that this is an original story co-written by the author of Black Lagoon, I’m assuming there will be a bit more “edge” to it, for lack of a better term. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. At the very least it looks nice as people seem to keep giving Ei Aoki a lot of resources to make anime, and while I don’t know if it will be good I am predicting this will be a big hit.

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3 thoughts on “The GLORIO Spring 2017 Anime Guide – Part 2”

I heard about Clockwork Planet awhile ago and the name made me rather excited. It’s too bad the trailer and setup are less than stellar. I hope they can still make it interesting. Some of my favorite anime have had rather simple setups, so it’ll land on the characters to pull it off. I hope it’s good!
They’re bringing back Rage?! Wow. It’s been awhile since I saw that one, but I still clearly recall a lot of it. And that’s a BIG compliment for a fantasy anime. Most of them are so darn bland that I forget them in record time. If I can still recall characters, mood and settings clearly years later… Well, that show must have made an impact. Gotta say that the change in lead character (and writer!) makes me nervous though…